They are including "widgets" in Tiger, which is now accomplished by a 3rd party utility called Konfabulator
Yes... but Widgets are ancient, predating Konfabulator by a decade or so. In 1990, the NeXT OS had these things (and we all know what happened to NeXT...). I remember loving the Widgets at the time, so I'm thrilled that they're coming to OS X as "official". And, as other people have mentioned, the Widgets are also revamped Desk Accessories.
Well, firstly, it wouldn't be "free", it'd be taxed. Exactly. You're already paying it, so if you wanted to switch, you're paying twice for the same service. Thanks for giving me that "choice".
there are only so many 'features' a municipality could offer Yes, a perfect way to grow the government. Sorry, we need to raise your taxes some more.
assuming the prices were also what the local people want to pay See above, but for apartment dwellers it's a more indirect tax - part of rent. The mindset then becomes "well, this is free, I'd have to pay x dollars more for only a little bit better".
You'll have plenty of opression[sic] there. I'm trying to avoid it here, thanks though. Odd that forcing me to pay for your broadband isn't oppression. Not trying to be a schmuck - I love the idea of communities providing wireless access. It's cool. That's what the freeserves and the like are for - if you really want it, join one.
But don't make me pay for something that I may or may not want.
Alternatively, we let the government govern, and businesses do business. Why is it wrong or evil for a company to provide a service and make money off of it? I'm sorry, I don't want my government creating its own ISP. It'll stifle competition (it's hard to compete against free), innovation (if there's no market to enter, why create stuff for the market), etc, etc.
And so you want the government to create its own "cable company", but with broadband? It's the government's fault that you have 1 cable company. Why do you assume that giving them other stuff to do is going to improve the overall situation?
Then buy DVDs - lots of them have trailers for movies that are "coming soon". I believe the Chronicles of Riddick had 7. SEVEN. Now, it's annoying. In 5 years, those ads will just be pathetic.
Just FYI - he recut the movie and supposedly improved it quite a bit. Link to Ebert's review of the re-cut version. "Make no mistake: The Cannes version was a bad film, but now Gallo's editing has set free the good film inside. "
Why bother putting HK-47 back together, or awakening the Force in anyone?
It's cool to know that you're making Jedi. I had 2 or 3 members of my party "go Jedi", and there was (I think) at least one more. Pretty cool - you're essentially helping restart the Jedi Order, by "creating" all these Jedi.
For the HK-47s, I got the feeling (played the Xbox version, fwiw) that there was a missing encounter/planet. You run across the other HKs a couple of times, and get a "tracking beacon" - my suspicion was that there was supposed to be some sort of "area" (be it a planet, an area, a map, etc) where you got to take out the HK factory. Never happened, though, and I was curious why. Now I have an answer - LucasArts is greedy.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the game, especially the jedi explanation about levelling up. Very clever. But yes, the end-game needed a bit more work. I'm still awaiting KOTOR III.
Odd - that's illegal. The law (not sure if it's U.S. or state law) says you have to be able to face your accuser, and there's no way to do that with a camera.
Yes, and let's not forget that this is probably against the Windows licensing agreements. I don't know if it still is, but until Licensing 6.0 this was verboten - Microsoft insisted that not only did you need a license for each machine, but you needed an extra one for the "new" OS you reimaged with. This may have changed, but it sucked when I had to deal with it.
Re:Offline games require online reporting = BOGUS
on
Steam Users Steamed
·
· Score: 1
What I'd like to add is an explanation for why Valve created Steam at all. It wasn't just to get more "control" and defeat hackers and pirates.
Yup. It's also because they're going to attempt their own version of Gathering of Developers. There are several games being developed currently for the Steam network, including Pirates of the Burning Sea, a pirate-themed MMO (no affliation, I'm just waiting for their game after PotBS). Basically, Steam will be releasing a lot more than just Valve's games. Hopefully this will be good for small developers - they can concentrate on building a good, small game that can make some money, and not on trying to avoid getting fscked by the publisher.
Having been on a jury, the parent has some good points, but overestimates the process. On the trial I was at, the guy did it. They had a cop testify about the statements taken, and brought in the accuser (who they had to arrest - she had decided not to show up) who testified that he did it (although she clearly didn't want him found guilty) There was another witness, friendly to the accuser, who also said that he did it. The defense's position wasn't that he didn't do it, but that he was otherwise a nice guy. Oooookay.
Our verdict? Not guilty. "He was a nice boy, he just made some mistakes", said one of the jury members. The others thought that... well, they thought that the prosecution giving us the option of a lighter sentence was a sign they had a weak case. The 3 people in favor of guilty were told by the judge to go along with the majority opinion it if at all possible. Juries are full of some of the dumbest people. I used to joke that I could never be tried by a jury of my peers - my peers are too smart to be in jury duty. On the whole, it's true. It opened my eyes - if you did it, by all means get the jury - odds are they'll think you look nice, or look sorry, and find you innocent.
It's cases like this that make me lose faith in the system. Or maybe just in my fellow man.
I'm guessing you don't have an Xbox Actually, I do. Playing Mercenaries on it currently, though it doesn't really hold a candle to KOTOR2.
And I guess that I listen to music differently. I don't want my music to stop when I hit pause - I like hearing my music, and cutting it off mid-song gets old.
The rate of 3-10Mbps for a dvd video (dunno about HD video) isn't likely to go down too much more with other compression.
One small correction - yes, it can. MP4 can get much better compression than MP2 (which is what DVDs and SVCDs use). For instance, the TV shows posted around the internet have been moving to DivX - you can download 800mb for an SVCD version, or about 350mb for DivX. Quality is good enough to replace going to the store. That translates to about 1 megabit. Provide a couple low-quality trailers first (so you can buffer), and away you go.
I'm not even a fan of Sony, but you need some correction.
xBoxes outselling PS2s Yes... because everyone who wanted a PS2 has one. They had that extra year, remember? What's the total install base for each system? Oh, yeah: Sony, 74 million. Microsoft, 17.5 million (15 as of July, estimated 5 in next year)
xBox 2 outbefore PS3 As above, it's useful if the games are there, and if they're compelling. They need a "killer app" for Xbox 2... the only game to get for the first year on the Xbox was Halo, and there's talk of a "Halo 2.5" for the Xbox 2. Depending on how you want to spin it, it's either desperation for a real hit, or a clever way to get people to migrate.
iPod KILLING the Walkman Ayup. Most of that has been due to the MP3 restriction on previous Sony devices, brought on by the "content" division of Sony.
PSP getting barely any positive press compared to excellent reviews of the Nintendo DS. Hate to say this, but that's because it's barely out. Is it even available stateside yet? Once it comes out, provided the games are there, I think it'll sell a lot. IF they do things right, it could be a winner - an MP3 player, a Video player, and a videogame console. A nice hat trick.
Unless Sony has some newer tricks, it might falter a bit. But between the PS2, the PSP, and the other divisions, they still have some life left.
Same premise, different execution. This one is sprite-based, isometric view, and looks like a bit more fun. IWAAM was, well, not all that good. Great idea, but the actual game was lacking.
KOTOR2 for the PC - I just finished it on the Xbox. While it's technically more of the same, that's far from a bad thing. Kudos to Obsidian for getting it right.
Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich. The first one was a blast, and they promise more goodness this time around (blow apart buildings, more interactivity with the environment, new powers). The first good superhero game in a while. No, it's not just like CoH.
They Came From Hollywood - play a Science Fiction B-Movie Monster. Play as a giant spider! An alien brain! Destroy destroy destroy! Should be simple and fun. (Also worth reading their site - it's got a good sense of humor about it)
Dragon Age - RPG from Bioware, going for the "Epic" feel.
F.E.A.R. - sounds promising, if not just another Max Payne wannabe. It's supposed to be like playing a gigantic SciFi movie.
Jade Empire - Bioware goes for an RPG button-masher. Huh? Knowing Bioware, it should rock. Xbox for now, though.:(
Bioshock - saw this on the Gamespot preview. Irrational (the guys who did System Shock 2) is doing a spiritual successor, looks like.
Project Snowblind - Deus Ex without those pesky RPG-lite elements. That could be good, or bad.
Matrix Online - yeah, I'm a Matrix fanboy. Could rock, could suck. No way to tell, especially with Monolith's track record.
Gee, I think there's really nothing to bitch about. Last year had so many big games come out, almost at once, it's going to be a hard act to follow. However, I'm going to be spending lots of money on games this year.
Carbon-dating, empirical observation, archaeology, and genetics all indicate that evolution has taken place from more primitive forms of life to those seen today.
Remind me to bring you along next time I talk to my former co-worker Joe. He had great stuff regarding how inaccurate carbon-dating was. Not that he's right, but I'd like someone else to pummel him with logic this time.
Slashdot Mirror
They are including "widgets" in Tiger, which is now accomplished by a 3rd party utility called Konfabulator
Yes... but Widgets are ancient, predating Konfabulator by a decade or so. In 1990, the NeXT OS had these things (and we all know what happened to NeXT...). I remember loving the Widgets at the time, so I'm thrilled that they're coming to OS X as "official". And, as other people have mentioned, the Widgets are also revamped Desk Accessories.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/19/012620 4&tid=193&tid=1
Well, firstly, it wouldn't be "free", it'd be taxed.
Exactly. You're already paying it, so if you wanted to switch, you're paying twice for the same service. Thanks for giving me that "choice".
there are only so many 'features' a municipality could offer
Yes, a perfect way to grow the government. Sorry, we need to raise your taxes some more.
assuming the prices were also what the local people want to pay
See above, but for apartment dwellers it's a more indirect tax - part of rent. The mindset then becomes "well, this is free, I'd have to pay x dollars more for only a little bit better".
You'll have plenty of opression[sic] there.
I'm trying to avoid it here, thanks though. Odd that forcing me to pay for your broadband isn't oppression. Not trying to be a schmuck - I love the idea of communities providing wireless access. It's cool. That's what the freeserves and the like are for - if you really want it, join one.
But don't make me pay for something that I may or may not want.
Alternatively, we let the government govern, and businesses do business. Why is it wrong or evil for a company to provide a service and make money off of it? I'm sorry, I don't want my government creating its own ISP. It'll stifle competition (it's hard to compete against free), innovation (if there's no market to enter, why create stuff for the market), etc, etc.
And so you want the government to create its own "cable company", but with broadband? It's the government's fault that you have 1 cable company. Why do you assume that giving them other stuff to do is going to improve the overall situation?
Then buy DVDs - lots of them have trailers for movies that are "coming soon". I believe the Chronicles of Riddick had 7. SEVEN. Now, it's annoying. In 5 years, those ads will just be pathetic.
Just FYI - he recut the movie and supposedly improved it quite a bit. Link to Ebert's review of the re-cut version.
"Make no mistake: The Cannes version was a bad film, but now Gallo's editing has set free the good film inside. "
- It's cool to know that you're making Jedi. I had 2 or 3 members of my party "go Jedi", and there was (I think) at least one more. Pretty cool - you're essentially helping restart the Jedi Order, by "creating" all these Jedi.
- For the HK-47s, I got the feeling (played the Xbox version, fwiw) that there was a missing encounter/planet. You run across the other HKs a couple of times, and get a "tracking beacon" - my suspicion was that there was supposed to be some sort of "area" (be it a planet, an area, a map, etc) where you got to take out the HK factory. Never happened, though, and I was curious why. Now I have an answer - LucasArts is greedy.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the game, especially the jedi explanation about levelling up. Very clever. But yes, the end-game needed a bit more work. I'm still awaiting KOTOR III.Odd - that's illegal. The law (not sure if it's U.S. or state law) says you have to be able to face your accuser, and there's no way to do that with a camera.
Will someone come out with a version so that I don't accidentally download the same albums again and again?
Ah, yes. Now others will experience the same horror I did when my favorite UPN show (Nowhere Man), was replaced with this...
That's easy. Schick Fuhrs Frohling. Great band, lots of synthesizers. http://www.nordseemusikanten.de/sff/
Not sure what they have to do with Shuttles, though.
If I was you in that jury, I would have explained
Oh, I did. For three days. Didn't matter.
Yes, and let's not forget that this is probably against the Windows licensing agreements. I don't know if it still is, but until Licensing 6.0 this was verboten - Microsoft insisted that not only did you need a license for each machine, but you needed an extra one for the "new" OS you reimaged with. This may have changed, but it sucked when I had to deal with it.
What I'd like to add is an explanation for why Valve created Steam at all. It wasn't just to get more "control" and defeat hackers and pirates.
Yup. It's also because they're going to attempt their own version of Gathering of Developers. There are several games being developed currently for the Steam network, including Pirates of the Burning Sea, a pirate-themed MMO (no affliation, I'm just waiting for their game after PotBS). Basically, Steam will be releasing a lot more than just Valve's games. Hopefully this will be good for small developers - they can concentrate on building a good, small game that can make some money, and not on trying to avoid getting fscked by the publisher.
Having been on a jury, the parent has some good points, but overestimates the process. On the trial I was at, the guy did it. They had a cop testify about the statements taken, and brought in the accuser (who they had to arrest - she had decided not to show up) who testified that he did it (although she clearly didn't want him found guilty) There was another witness, friendly to the accuser, who also said that he did it. The defense's position wasn't that he didn't do it, but that he was otherwise a nice guy. Oooookay.
Our verdict? Not guilty. "He was a nice boy, he just made some mistakes", said one of the jury members. The others thought that... well, they thought that the prosecution giving us the option of a lighter sentence was a sign they had a weak case. The 3 people in favor of guilty were told by the judge to go along with the majority opinion it if at all possible. Juries are full of some of the dumbest people. I used to joke that I could never be tried by a jury of my peers - my peers are too smart to be in jury duty. On the whole, it's true. It opened my eyes - if you did it, by all means get the jury - odds are they'll think you look nice, or look sorry, and find you innocent.
It's cases like this that make me lose faith in the system. Or maybe just in my fellow man.
I'm guessing you don't have an Xbox
Actually, I do. Playing Mercenaries on it currently, though it doesn't really hold a candle to KOTOR2.
And I guess that I listen to music differently. I don't want my music to stop when I hit pause - I like hearing my music, and cutting it off mid-song gets old.
The rate of 3-10Mbps for a dvd video (dunno about HD video) isn't likely to go down too much more with other compression.
One small correction - yes, it can. MP4 can get much better compression than MP2 (which is what DVDs and SVCDs use). For instance, the TV shows posted around the internet have been moving to DivX - you can download 800mb for an SVCD version, or about 350mb for DivX. Quality is good enough to replace going to the store. That translates to about 1 megabit. Provide a couple low-quality trailers first (so you can buffer), and away you go.
I've got this cool thing hooked up to my system called a "stereo". The TV plays sounds, the stereo plays "music". This is not that tough.
Obflamebait - the above, I guess.
Totally OT - nice to see FIW in a sig. Nice crop of obs you have there. ;)
I'm not even a fan of Sony, but you need some correction.
xBoxes outselling PS2s
Yes... because everyone who wanted a PS2 has one. They had that extra year, remember? What's the total install base for each system? Oh, yeah:
Sony, 74 million.
Microsoft, 17.5 million (15 as of July, estimated 5 in next year)
xBox 2 outbefore PS3
As above, it's useful if the games are there, and if they're compelling. They need a "killer app" for Xbox 2... the only game to get for the first year on the Xbox was Halo, and there's talk of a "Halo 2.5" for the Xbox 2. Depending on how you want to spin it, it's either desperation for a real hit, or a clever way to get people to migrate.
iPod KILLING the Walkman
Ayup. Most of that has been due to the MP3 restriction on previous Sony devices, brought on by the "content" division of Sony.
PSP getting barely any positive press compared to excellent reviews of the Nintendo DS.
Hate to say this, but that's because it's barely out. Is it even available stateside yet? Once it comes out, provided the games are there, I think it'll sell a lot. IF they do things right, it could be a winner - an MP3 player, a Video player, and a videogame console. A nice hat trick.
Unless Sony has some newer tricks, it might falter a bit. But between the PS2, the PSP, and the other divisions, they still have some life left.
Same premise, different execution. This one is sprite-based, isometric view, and looks like a bit more fun. IWAAM was, well, not all that good. Great idea, but the actual game was lacking.
KOTOR2 for the PC - I just finished it on the Xbox. While it's technically more of the same, that's far from a bad thing. Kudos to Obsidian for getting it right.
:(
Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich. The first one was a blast, and they promise more goodness this time around (blow apart buildings, more interactivity with the environment, new powers). The first good superhero game in a while. No, it's not just like CoH.
They Came From Hollywood - play a Science Fiction B-Movie Monster. Play as a giant spider! An alien brain! Destroy destroy destroy! Should be simple and fun. (Also worth reading their site - it's got a good sense of humor about it)
Dragon Age - RPG from Bioware, going for the "Epic" feel.
F.E.A.R. - sounds promising, if not just another Max Payne wannabe. It's supposed to be like playing a gigantic SciFi movie.
Jade Empire - Bioware goes for an RPG button-masher. Huh? Knowing Bioware, it should rock. Xbox for now, though.
Bioshock - saw this on the Gamespot preview. Irrational (the guys who did System Shock 2) is doing a spiritual successor, looks like.
Project Snowblind - Deus Ex without those pesky RPG-lite elements. That could be good, or bad.
Matrix Online - yeah, I'm a Matrix fanboy. Could rock, could suck. No way to tell, especially with Monolith's track record.
Gee, I think there's really nothing to bitch about. Last year had so many big games come out, almost at once, it's going to be a hard act to follow. However, I'm going to be spending lots of money on games this year.
while most SW fans will only so do maybe one month prior.
Of if they're smart, not at all. What else opens that weekend?
Carbon-dating, empirical observation, archaeology, and genetics all indicate that evolution has taken place from more primitive forms of life to those seen today.
Remind me to bring you along next time I talk to my former co-worker Joe. He had great stuff regarding how inaccurate carbon-dating was. Not that he's right, but I'd like someone else to pummel him with logic this time.